Last week for Fridays at Home: Let’s Play Pretend I told you guys a friend had hired me to help him pick out paint colors and carpet for his condo as well as paint it. It was quite the undertaking, even for someone as paint crazy as me. As for being a house painter for the weekend…it was some rough physical labor, and for about two days after, my entire body hurt. BUT – I painted for 9 or so hours each day, and that’s a lot, especially when you’re up and down a ladder and scooting across a hard wood floor. Normally, I’d paint one room at my house in a day or two, so to do three rooms (and one of them is a combo dining/living space) in two days was pretty quick.

The condo was laid out about like this:

Via Autodesk Homestyler

The biggest problem is that the only windows are on one wall in the living room. The living room/dining room and kitchen have an open floor plan, so they have a lot of light, but the bedroom and bathroom have no natural light. Plus, the bedroom has a ceiling mount light fixture, which only adds to the darkness. I’ve recommended he change this out as soon as possible. The living/dining area was plain ivory, which was fine but really boring. Nothing stood out, and the space has some great architectural details. The bedroom was purple (forgot to take a pic), and the bathroom was a truly horrific mauve pink.

The other problem was that all the walls were not at right angles. Instead, they were curved. This is very popular in construction at the moment, but the problem is, it can be difficult to determine where to end color. If there are a lot of architectural features in the space (such as this condo), you have to really be careful you know exactly where to start and stop the color. For example, a column that separated the living/dining area from the kitchen actually curved and continued into the kitchen ceiling. I certainly didn’t want to paint the lower ceiling and certainly not a dark color.

Here are some pics, but keep in mind they are with my cell phone, so they aren’t the best:

Very blah. Built-in shelves don't stand out at all.

Rounded corners on ever surface. Problematic.

80s/90s mauve pink bathroom. Ugh.

The plan was to a. update the space, b. bring in color, and c. still keep it masculine. Here are the color choices (we did try samples first). Carpet is only installed in the bedroom.

Living Room Color: Relaxed Navy

Bathroom Color: Valspar Rugged Suede

Bedroom Color: Valspar Cathedral Stone

Mohawk Santa Cantarina Foggy Mist

And here are a few snaps of the progress and the completed spaces:

Progress

Cutting in around the curved windows...I'm a pro :)

Example of the curvature

Defining the built-in cabinets

Architectural detail separating living/dining area

Bedroom pre-carpet

Bedroom post-carpet

Slightly truer color through the French doors into the bedroom

I love this color in the bathroom against the tile - notice the purply/pink still on the column to the right.

And against the shower tile (though color not completely dry)

All in all, it took me about 18 hours to paint these three spaces by myself, and I kind of feel like a hoss.

Of course, I still want to get back in there to help him pick out light fixtures, area rugs, a coffee table, and some new bedding, but it was super fun to get to make decisions about someone else’s space and have them foot the bill for it. Of course, designing for a single man was probably a good first job because he wasn’t very picky. Or at least he said he wasn’t. Any time the color swatches veered toward green, he was very vocal, but that’s excellent. In the end, he was pleased, and I was proud.

So. Got any painting questions? I’m thinking about doing a video on cutting in (painting where walls meet or where walls meet the ceiling) without tape. If you’re interested, let me know. I can honestly say that tape (which I haven’t used in years) is a huge waste of time. But that’s a whole other post…and I might even show you my painting clothes (yes, an outfit dedicated to painting).